


Peepers Bad Week

by secret170193



Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-06 10:29:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6750283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secret170193/pseuds/secret170193
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Peepers had known being commander of thousands of watchdogs and the second in command to a short tempered immature villain was going to be a stressful job, he'd been well aware of that when he signed up. But stressful wasn't even putting a scratch on how he felt the day was going so far. Maybe the universe just had it out for him."</p>
<p>Commander Peepers has a long and difficult week, with a little help from Wander, Sylvia and Lord Hater, will he manage to survive it?<br/>Warning for a bit of Peepers abuse!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And so it begins.

Peepers had known being commander of thousands of watchdogs and the second in command to a short tempered immature villain was going to be a stressful job, he'd been well aware of that when he signed up. But stressful wasn't even putting a scratch on how he felt the day was going so far. Maybe the universe just had it out for him. 

He'd started the day in the usual way, waking Lord Hater and making him breakfast. Today Hater had turned his nose up at several masterpieces, that quickly went in the bin or on the floor, before finally settling on doughnuts. After a long hour of persuasion and stubborn difficulty from Hater's end, Peepers relayed his latest and greatest plans out then sighed in frustration as pathetic holes were poked in each and every plan. 

Once he'd let Hater talk him into returning to square one with all of his plans, Peepers then carried out quarters checks and inventory on every single soldiers bunks. This took the solitary commander late into the afternoon where he then had to manage and regulate the food court and pick up Hater's usual order of junk food. 

Most nights Peepers could get away with crawling into bed just past midnight but unlucky for him he had to finish his plans for tomorrow and take on the duties of any night jobs, as a majority had filed for sick leave after Wander and Sylvia's last escape. 

Exhausted and aching, Peepers collapsed on his bed at 5am, just in time to turn off his morning alarm and push himself back to his feet for another day of work. Maybe it was just one bad day, he could handle one bad day... 

After a thorough check of the ship's systems, Peepers set about making Lord Haters breakfast. About an hour into tiredly preparing a gorgeous selection of hot and cold meals, the door slammed open and Peepers nearly jumped out of his skin. 

"PEEPERS! Why didn't you wake me!? Do you know how bad it looks when I over sleep!?" 

Peepers stood to attention, saluting quickly and without thought. 

"Sorry, Sir, I for-.. AUGH!" 

Peepers yelped and dropped the frying pan that he'd just saluted with, hot oil and half cooked egg spilling over him. In a frantic flail to shield his eye and grab at the frying pan at the same time, Peepers stepped on one of the eggs and slipped, landing flat on his face. Hater, apparently not in a good enough mood to even chuckle at the situation, glared at Peepers. 

"Ugh, gross. I didn't even want eggs, clean this mess up and hurry up with my food! You're so pathetic." 

Before Peepers could even get up, Hater was gone. The little watchdog fumed for a moment as he cleaned up the mess and ignored his burns to make Hater a new breakfast. 

"Pathetic, I'll show him pathetic!" 

And like he always did, Peepers threw his frustrations and hurt into something he could impress Lord Hater with, the best way to use such energy, not that he had much to spare today. 

With a slight swelling of pride, Peepers set his latest creation in front of Hater, hoping the addition of icecream and chocolate to the pancake stack would entice the skeletal overlord into forgetting how late it was. Peepers watched in anticipation and then despair as Lord Hater eyed the plate and knocked it onto the floor like a pompous cat. 

"Overkill. The eggs looked better than that!" 

With a last press for some compromise, Peepers fiddled with his hands and looked up at his grumpy boss. 

"Would you.. um... like the eggs instead, Sir?" 

Hater scoffed immaturly and glared at Peepers. 

"Didn't you hear me before, I dont want eggs! Gah, I swear Peepers, you're so useless! Forget it, I'm not hungry." 

Hater headed to the control room, leaving a shocked and worn out Peepers in his wake. Rather than let it get to him, Peepers vowed to come up with some better breakfast ideas that night. Before the commander had even set foot in the control room, an alarm bared loudly, watchdogs scattering around the panels to check everything. Hater looked around in surprise, not used to hearing the alarms go when nothing seemed wrong. 

"What is it? What's going on!? You!" 

Hater pointed at a random watchdog who stumbled over his own words.   
"W-well, Sir... it um.. it looks like the oil wasn't changed this morning and... its caused an unf-fortune clog, if it fills too far th-the whole ship could blow!" 

Hater snarled, clearly unaware of how dangerous that was. 

"Make this noise stop and fix it!? Who was supposed to change the oil anyway!?" 

The watchdog gulped, caving as he saw Haters hands crackle with lightning-like energy. 

"C-Commander Peepers, S-Sir..." 

Hater swung around, more annoyed than frightened and grabbed Peepers by the arm, electrocuting him a few times without thinking about it. 

"PEEPERS! This is your fault! Fix this!" 

Peepers pulled his arm free, rubbing it where he could already feel bruises forming, feeling a tinge of guilt, knowing he must have been on autopilot through the morning checks and missed it. 

"Alright, alright, don't worry sir, I know how to fix this. I just need a volunteer to climb into the oil tank and unclog..." 

Peepers trailed off when Hater glared daggers at him. 

"Ooor I could just do it..." 

The tense commander avoided the eye contact of any of his men as he opened up the oil tank and clambered in, closing his eye and diving just deep enough to feel around for the pipe, his hand brushing up against a thick oily clog. Not wanting to risk oil covering his eye, Peepers scraped most out with his hands, kicking the last away with a foot until he couldn't hear the alarm sirens blaring. 

After a bit more of a struggle than he'd have liked, Peepers clambered back out of the tank and panted for breath, looking to Hater for the slightest bit of praise. Hater only scowled and walked away. 

"Do you have to screw up everything, God, Peepers." 

Peepers sighed and left his troops to clean up the oil, heading straight for the showers. So it was just one and a half bad days. He could handle it, it could only get better... right? 

By the time Peepers had sorted everything out and filed his plans for later, Hater wasn't likely to be in the mood to listen now, it was time to regulate the food court again. Ignoring his stomach grumbling, Peepers delivered Haters take-away and began doing the night work. 

This time the commander's alarm went off the moment he stepped into his room. Oh well. He could manage one more day....


	2. Pushing limits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out day after day of stress /isn't/ a good thing. Huh, who knew?

Peepers barely managed to do his checks, calling on a few other watchdogs to assist him, using yesterday's mishap as an excuse for extra training. He knew the reality was that in his tired state he'd definitely miss something else. It was safer to have everything double checked. When breakfast rolled around he was lucky to successfully make Lord Hater a bowl of sugary cereal, his own stomach giving a grumble of protest that, as usual, went unheeded. 

Hater looked confused by the plain and effortless meal set before him, eyeing Peepers for a moment as though he'd gone crazy before eating a spoonful and waving his second in command away. Peepers sighed in relief once he was out of sight, glad that such a short breakfast gave him time to polish up his plan. After half an hour of trying to wrap his sleep deprived mind around the plan that had seemed so simple two days ago, Peepers finally decided that if it was good enough to write down then it must be good enough now. He presented it to Hater and thankfully got permission to start the invasion of the new tiny planet they'd found. Admittedly Hater had been playing on a handheld game console but if it meant an invasion then Peepers wasn't about to complain. 

Leaving Haters 'take over entrance' set up to the others, Peepers joined the first wave of troops, hoping a battle would help him feel less like he was an empty shell walking. Within minutes the planet's inhabitants were scattered and victory looked imminent. Until Peepers spotted a blur of orange and blue in the distance. 

"Oh no, not today! I am not letting them interfere!" 

He broke ranks and rushed straight for the figures of Wander and Sylvia, holding up his weapon to them. 

"Not one step closer! I've got my eye on you! This planet is ours!" 

Wander grinned at Peepers as though he was greeting a friend on the street. 

"But wouldn't it be better if you just asked nicely? Maybe they'll be happy to share!" 

Peepers pointed his weapon between Sylvia and Wander, hand trembling from low blood sugar, eye just barely focussing on either. 

"We're not here to share... you.. you... stupid..." 

Peepers felt his vision fading and jolted for a brief second as his mind tried to keep him awake, gun cocking awkwardly like he was about to fire. Sylvia lunged towards him. 

"Wander, look out!" 

She drew her arm back to punch Peepers straight in the eye but pulled short with a look of surprise when the commander crumpled to one side, dropping his weapon as he passed out. Wander gasped, hurrying forward. 

"Sylvia!" 

Sylvia held up her hands as though that would show Wander that she wasn't close enough. 

"Hey, it wasn't me! I mean I wish it had been but he did that himself!" 

Wander tried to sit Peepers upright, having to hold him in both arms. 

"Sylvia, we have to help him! I think he's hurt!" 

Sylvia raised a hand as though making a suggestion. 

"Or.. ooor... we leave him here and if he doesn't make it a lot of planets will be better off for it!" 

Sylvia put on a convincing grin, sighing when Wander only pouted back at her. 

"Fine... we'll help... we should have a rule where that doesn't include enemies." 

Wander scooped Peepers up slowly and laid him across Sylvia's saddle. 

"But he's not our enemy, he's our buddy." 

Sylvia began the slow sneaky trek towards Lord Hater's ship, helping Wander avoid the marching watchdogs. 

"I'm not so sure he'd see it the same way..."

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"Tremble in fear as I, Lord Hater, the most amazing and cool villain in the galaxy, no the /universe/, conquers your pathetic little- Wander!? Get off my stage!"Lord Hater grabbed at Wander, getting increasingly more frustrated as Wander dodged his snatches by millimeters after each word.

"But... Lord... Hater... I....Have...Something... For... You!"Hater practically pulled out his bolt shaped horns in anger.

"I don't want your gifts! I don't want a hug and I don't want your friendship!"Wander paused, giving a little pout, glancing behind him to give Sylvia a moment to slip onto stage.

"But Lord Hater, it's not really a gift... I mean really it already belongs to you... Sorta?"Hater hesitated at Sylvia's appearance, spotting Commander Peepers on her back. He shoved Wander out of the way as he rushed over towards them, ignoring Sylvia's glare.

"Commander Peepers! What did you do to him!?"Unfazed by the rough pushing, Wander followed Hater over, putting a hand on Sylvia to keep her from snapping at Hater.

"We didn't do anything. He just... collapsed! I don't know why, it must be something terrible!"Hater looked between Wander and Sylvia a few times before realising they must be telling the truth. Of the many many many annoying traits that Wander held, total and utter honesty and the drive to help /literally/ anyone were the ones that stood out the most, even if Hater did loath him for it. His face fell to an almost childish worried look.

"You really think something could be wrong? What if... What if he's been poisoned!? Or what if he's got a head injury!? Or what if..?"Sylvia interrupted, anticipating a long rant that could only end in Hater or Wander in a panicked frenzy."What if's don't matter, we won't know standing here and doing nothing!"Hater stopped his listing, waving Sylvia and Wander towards his ship.

"Medical bay is the third door on the left... Or right.... Just open them all until you find it!"He pulled out the microphone he'd been using for his grand entrance.

"All Watchdog's retreat! And don't come in the medical bay! Also someone tell me where the medical bay is!....AND THEN DON'T COME IN IT!"

Sylvia rolled her eyes, sighing when Wander gave her that sheepish smile that meant they were going to follow this thing through whether she liked it or not. She found the medical bay, nowhere near where Hater had said it'd be, and helped Wander place Commander Peepers on the nearest hospital bed. Over ten minutes later Hater walked in, shutting the door behind him and leaning over Peepers, looking him up and down.

"He doesn't look hurt... Maybe it really is poison!"Sylvia put a hand on Hater's shoulder, leading him gently away from the bed a bit. "Just let me have a look at him, you don't travel the universe with a guy like Wander without learning some things about medical tests. If he /has/ been poisoned, maybe you should, I don't know, check the CCTV footage and see if you can find out who did it?"Hater looked confused for a moment before registering what Sylvia was saying."Right! Right! The camera room with all the screens!"Wander grinned, grabbing Hater by the arm and leading him straight out of the room.

"I know where that is! Here, it's this way!"Hater followed, too concerned about Peepers to question how Wander knew the layout of his ship better than he did.


	3. Peepers out.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sylvia and Wander lend a hand, but if things are going to be fixed Lord Hater is the one that will need to change.

Sylvia started by looking over Peepers, checking if he was hurt or not. Unfortunately for her that involved an awkward internal battle as to whether she should remove his uniform or not. Eventually, after sucking up all her pride, she settled for removing one piece at a time before replacing it as soon as she could, never fully unclothing the commanding officer. Frowning at her findings, Sylvia borrowed some medical charts from the drawers and started writing them down. The watchdog had some bad bruising on his arm, a few scorch marks and a set of painful looking burns around his eyelid but nothing that would contribute to such a sudden bout of unconsciousness. Setting out a series of test kits, Sylvia began to take blood samples for testing. Thank goodness Wander wasn't around for that, she thought. The little guy couldn't stand the sight of blood.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Wander waved goodbye to Andy as Lord Hater threw the watchdog out of the CCTV room so they could have it to themselves.

"Bye Andy! I love your show! Sorry about taking the room!"

Hater locked the door, sitting himself in the only chair, trying not to twitch when Wander sat himself happily on Hater's shoulder to get a better look.

"Okey dokey, just press that lil' button right there and we can rewind it!"

Hater rewound the footage gradually, giving them both just enough time to see Peepers and follow him through the cameras. Wander pointed at each screen as the little figures on them walked backwards around the ship.

"Ooh! There he is sweeping! And there he is typing! And there he is.."

Hater paused the footage, glaring at Wander.

"Stop that! We only wanna know when he's eating! Or drinking! Or if anything suspicious happens... But anything else is /boring/, got that!?"

Wander nodded rapidly, eager to help out. He turned his attention back to the screen the moment Hater started playing it again. After a few long minutes of watching the sped up footage, Wander pointed at the screen in the canteen. "There! He's got tonnes of food right there!"Hater paused the footage again and peered at the screen before giving a grumpy huff.

"No, that's just /my/ dinner."

Wander's hand dropped from the screen with a disappointed look. He perked up again when he spotted Peepers carrying food from the kitchen.

"Look! Right there! He's got some food! Maybe someone snuck something into..."

Hater gave an offhanded sheepish expression, speeding up the footage a bit.

"Actually um... That's... My food. Again."

Wander dropped his arm again, tilting his head at the screen.

"Does he /ever/ eat? I mean that's like a whole day! I'd be starved!"

Hater watched as he followed Peepers to his bedroom, looking surprised at the watchdog seeming to skip sleep as it rewound him straight to his night-time duties. The villain tried to draw Wanders attention away from the constant work Peepers seemed to be doing with casual conversation.

"Well... But like... I don't think they need to eat. They were fine with me giving them batteries or whatever."

Wander folded his arms, giving Hater the stern almost parental look he could sometimes muster when something was important.

"Do you really think that? Your watchdogs have their own canteen, why would they want that if they don't eat?"

Hater gave an awkward shrug, watching Peepers fetch his food again on the screen.

"well... I dunno, Peepers sorts all that stuff out. I just do the.. Ya know.. Taking over and stuff. The cool things!"

Wander turned his attention back to the screen until the footage read that it was over three days old. He gave a worried frown and looked at Hater.

"I think I was watching the whole thing but.... In all that time did you see him eat? Or for that matter... Sleep?"

Hater paused the footage, reflecting on it for a moment before shaking his head, fiddling with his hands to stop himself feeling guilty. It wasn't his fault that Peeper had a lot to do, was it? Wander noticed Hater's expression and jumped off his shoulder, holding out a hand with a concerned smile.

"Come on, let's go see what Sylvia's found! I'm sure she's got something by now!"

Hater let Wander lead him to the medical bay, knocking on the door almost nervously. Sylvia answered, grabbing them both and pulling them in.

"Well it's about time! I don't know what you guys have found but all my tests are coming back negative. Wander? You got anything?"

Wander took a deep breath. 

"Weeeelll.... He's been burnt by eggs, tripped on an egg, stubbed his toe, shocked by Lord Hater, swum in oil aaaaand he hasn't eaten or slept for at least three days...."

Sylvia blinked for a moment, trying to take in Wander's rapid babbling, snapping to attention when he finished. 

"Wander, I don't need every little... Wait, three days? Well that explains a lot, the little guy must be completely worn out!"

Lord Hater raised his hand awkwardly, clearing his throat.

"So um... What do we do?"

Sylvia frowned at Hater, clearly blaming him.

"We? I don't know about /us/ but /you/ have got to let him rest! Whatever you've been doing the last few days has clearly not been working out for him, so don't do that! No work, no stress, if you want him to get better he needs some down time, got it!?"

Hater nodded mutely, letting Sylvia pick up Wander and walk straight past him, heading out of the ship. Wander looked back with a sad expression.

"Sylvia... Shouldn't we stay and help out?"

Sylvia strode down the tongue of the ship, confidently passing the army of watchdogs.

"Sorry buddy, but he's got to learn and if we help him then he wouldn't learn a thing. Just hold in that urge to help, you're helping in the long run by /not/ helping."

Wander sighed, picking up Sylvia's reins and tearing his eyes off Lord Hater's Skullship.

"Alright Sylvia... If you think it'll really help."


	4. Not so Awesome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peepers takes some time to think and finds himself in the clutches of someone he'd really rather steer clear of.

When Commander Peepers awoke over a day and a half later he was dazed and confused. It took him a few moments to register where he was and what had happened. As memories flooded back, Peepers was overcome by a sense of pure humiliation. He'd fainted in the middle of an invasion. Sighing as he sat up, Peepers noted the drip line running to his arm. Methodically removing it, he pressing his thumb to the pinprick wound to stop it bleeding. 

He wandered out into the hallway, surprised to find it quite empty. Using his judgment, which even after a few days of unconsciousness was stronger than ever, he concluded that it must be dinner time and he'd been out for over 28 hours. Embarrassed as he was he had to face them at some point, but in all honesty Peepers was still surprised to see the ship running without him. 

He headed into the canteen and, to his utter surprise, walked straight into Lord Hater, who seemed to be controlling the room, a job normally dropped on Peepers. As much as Peepers hated to admit it, he wasn't fond of feeling like anyone could do his jobs, the canteen seemed to be calm and orderly.

The villain turned to look at Peepers in what looked like relief for a split second before his face twisted in sudden anger. 

"Peepers? What are you doing here!? Go back to bed!" 

The smaller commander couldn't help his expression of complete confusion at his boss's annoyance. Shouldn't Hater be thrilled that his commanding officer was awake enough to take his work off his hands?

"But... but, Sir! I'm fine, really!" 

Peepers raised his hands a bit as though to show Hater, letting go of his arm in the process. His cannula wound began slowly trickling blood down his arm the moment it was released. Lord Hater frowned more and pointed towards the door. 

"Get that bandaged up and go to bed! That's an order!" 

Peepers stared in dismay for a moment. 

"But Sir.. I.. " 

Hater folded his arms stubbornly. 

"What about 'that's an order' don't you understand!? I'm doing fine without you, I don't need you here!" 

Hater watched Peepers leave, feeling a swell of pride that he'd finally got his second in command to listen and take a break. Peepers however was feeling quite the opposite. 

After getting his arm bandaged and retiring to his bedroom, Peepers began mulling over Hater's words. Sure, he'd messed up a few times in the last few days but not enough for Hater to relieve him of his duties completely. Unless the showy villain was even more humiliated by his watchdog commander passing out than Peepers had been, and in front of Wander and Sylvia no less.   
Peepers wrung his hands in anxious worry for a few hours, deep in thought until he'd figured everyone must be in bed by now. Taking out a scrap of paper he composed a short note. 

"Dear.. Lord Hater. I have taken a few hours to myself, I'm taking one of the escape pods out. I should be back by evening. If not.... it was an honour to work for you, Sir. Signed... Possibly Ex-Commander Peepers." 

Peepers left the note on his pillow, taking the moment of stillness in the ship to sneak out to the escape pods and silently leave. He just needed a time to think things over. If he'd truly ruined Lord Hater's valuable reputation with his own weakness then it was probably best he didn't come back, it wasn't like he couldn't be replaced with a lesser watchdog at a moment's notice. 

Peepers barely drove for a few hours before he found himself veering off course, barely concentrating until his pod bumped up against something. Curious, Peepers wound down his window and instantly his pupil shrunk in dread at the sight of a limo shaped ship and a toothy grin leering from the window next to him. 

"Well isn't it just my lucky day! And for that matter, your unlucky day!" 

Without a chance to escape, his reaction timing still pretty shot from the last few days, Peepers found himself in the powerful grip of Emperor Awesome, only this time Lord Hater wasn't around to stick up for him. He kicked out as he was pulled from his pod straight through the open window of Awesome's Limo-Ship.

"What are you doing all the way out here so far from your Master, little guy?" 

Peepers struggled, glaring at the shark villain. He resented that nickname but he wasn't about to let an enemy know that. 

"None of your business, is what! Now let me go!" 

Awesome strutted through his ship, heading straight for his control room. 

"How about I don't and we'll see where that goes, hm?" 

Peepers seethed silently, cursing to himself as Awesome's fist pretty much bound his arms to his sides. With a cruel smirk, awesome held Peepers up to his face, studying the furious looking Watchdog with curiosity. 

"So... why don't you tell me about you little fainting episode, hm? Was a real invasion just too much for such a little guy?" 

Peepers went bright red, trembling in a mix of humiliation, anger and fear. He kept his gaze a stony glare, intent on not letting Awesome know he was afraid. 

"I did NOT faint!" 

Awesome chuckled and pressed a button on the main control panel. 

"Oh no? What do you call this then?" 

Peepers watched in horror as the big monitor showed a spy-bot view of him passing out mid-sentence played on loop. Awesome mockingly patted Peepers on his helmet before pressing a few buttons, a dancers cage dropping down from the ceiling. 

"Don't you worry, pipsqueak, I'll give you a real reason to faint. Don't blink or you'll miss it!" 

Emperor Awesome drew his fist back and Peepers shut his eye tight, tensing as he anticipated what was about to happen. Unfortunately for the trapped Watchdog, he was right and suffered three powerful blows to the eye, helmet smashing to the floor with a loud clatter, before being roughly thrown into the cage. Winded and barely able to see out of his already swelling blackened eye, Peepers heard the cage click shut. Awesome turned towards his monitor, keeping the cage out of the cameras sight. 

"Lets see if your dumb boss is even missing you yet."


	5. From worse to home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not like Peeper's week could get any worse, maybe his bad lucky's about to end?

Peepers watched on in horror as Emperor Awesome video called Lord Hater's ship. 

"Hey bro, you missing something over there?" 

Peepers could tell from Hater's confused expression that he was out of the view of the camera, for the moment. The watchdog commander made an attempt to open his black eye as much as possible to appear unharmed. Hater's voice echoed through the speakers. 

"Missing something? Pft, I don't know what you're taking about 'bro'." 

Hater mimicked Awesome's speech pattern childishly. Awesome glared and roughly yanked the cage into the camera's sights, knocking Peepers off his feet. 

"Oh? I guess you won't be wanting this back then!" 

Awesome smirked as Hater's face fell, clearly having not realized that Peepers was no longer aboard the skullship until that moment. 

"Peepers!? Give him back you lowlife little-" 

Awesome hung up on Hater abruptly, quite happy to annoy him a bit more. 

"Oh dear, and without a tactician I can only guess how quickly he'll fall into my traps, he doesn't stand a chance." 

Peepers glared at Awesome, disapproving of his underhanded ways. Even for a villain this was low, he must be desperate. Peepers glare faltered a little when Awesome bared his teeth in a malicious grin. 

"In the meantime, let's have some fun with you." 

Awesome pressed a few buttons on his control panel, letting go of the cage to let it swing back into the middle of the room. Peepers tried to look unimpressed and bored as the floor opened up to reveal a giant tank of water beneath him. He gave Awesome a look that said 'are you serious'. 

"A fish tank? Bit cliché don't you think?" 

Awesome scoffed, brushing off Peepers comment. 

"I find it suits me, plus, the ladies love it. And I can do this with it!" 

Awesome pulled a lever, dropping the cage into the water suddenly. Peepers grabbed at the bars of the cage as it sank quickly, trying to pull it loose and free himself before he ran out of air. In his panic Peepers ran out faster than he'd hoped. Just as he thought his last moments were going to be spent drowning in Emperor Awesome's stupid sharktank, the cage was pulled up and into the air, the chain tightening under the strain. 

As water flooded out of the cage, Peepers erupted into coughing, gasping for breath. He glared at Awesome's smirking face. 

"Round two? " 

Peepers didn't get a chance to reply when the cage dropped into the water once more.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

The screen went blank and Lord Hater turned his furious face on the control room watchdogs. 

"Find Awesome right now!" 

One of the watchdogs, used to Haters fits but not so used to seeing his commander in peril, pointed to one of the smaller screens hesitantly. 

"Right there, Sir... Commander Peepers keeps tabs on all the other major villains..." 

Hater peered over the little green screen, eyeing the blipping dots on it. 

"Which one's Awesome?" 

"This one, sir." 

Hater pointed at the dot with purpose. 

"Take me there right now! I'm going to show Emperor Awesome who he's messing with!"

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Peepers gasped for breath weakly from the floor of the cage, ironically like a fish out of water. Awesome chuckled, letting go of the lever and strode out of the room, confident that the watchdog commander wasn't likely to put up a fight. Unfortunately for Emperor Awesome, he was very wrong. 

The moment the door had shut, Peepers forced himself to sit up and, trembling a bit, pulled a lockpick from his glove. Within minutes he had the cage door open. With a few well timed swings, Peepers leapt over the water to the ground, landing in a slight heap, still a bit shaky from his ordeal. 

Without waiting to see if Emperor Awesome planned on returning, Peepers cracked the vent panel off the wall and crawled into it. There had to be a way off the ship somewhere.

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww 

It didn't take Hater long to locate Awesome's ship and crash into the side of it. The skeletal overlord stormed straight onto the ship and found himself face to face with Emperor Awesome. 

"Where is Peepers! You'd better not have hurt him!" 

Awesome put up his hands in mock defense, smirking. 

"Chill, dude, last I checked he was still breathing... just." 

Hater saw red for a moment and grabbed the shark, green electricity jolting over them both. 

"You're taking me to him right now!!!" 

Smoking slightly where Hater's hand gripped his shoulder, Awesome nodded hurriedly. 

"Whoa, alright already! Geeze it's not like he's going anywhere!" 

Awesome opened the door to the control room and tensed when he saw the empty swinging cage. 

".... um... about that not going anywhere bit..." 

Hater saw where this was going and shoved Awesome into the control room, grabbing the familiar black and yellow helmet from the floor where it had been leaning against the door. He backed out of the room quickly and jammed the door shut with a nearby 'dancing' pole. After shuddering at the thought and wiping his hands on his robes, Lord Hater set about looking for Peepers, opening every door on the ship. 

"Nope, nada, definitely not... ew...what even is that!? Hm? Data panels? That sounds nerdy enough!" 

Hater kicked open the door, peering around in the dark computer panel room. He heard a slight shuffling noise from the vent in the corner and lifted off the panel, instantly confronted with a flash of sparks and a sizzle of raw electricity. Luckily for Hater, this wasn't exactly a problem, his own lightning was much more powerful. When the smoke cleared from the air, Hater was surprised to see Peepers crouched in the vent, carefully clutching two live wires from the computers, apparently intent on using them as weapons, despite still being sopping wet himself. These were dropped and discarded when the commander saw who he'd mistakenly attacked. 

"S-Sir! You came for me!" 

Peepers flung himself from the vent, grabbing a hold of Hater, clearly thrilled at the concept of rescue. Hater held Peepers for a moment, still in shock at the state of his commander. He was visibly bruised, soaking wet, freezing cold and sporting a nasty black eye. After a few moments of contemplating Awesome's demise for this, Hater forced himself to pull Peepers away for a moment. 

"I locked Awesome up but he could break free any moment! We gotta get out of here!" 

Peepers looked at Hater like he'd grown a second head. His boss never ran away from a fight, especially with such a loudmouth villain as Emperor Awesome. 

"Sir, you don't want to stay and fight him?" 

Hater frowned, thinking sensibly for once in his life. 

"With you like this!? Peepers, I'm not stupid! I'll beat his fishy butt another time!" 

Peepers almost looked relieved and let go of Hater to be put down and follow him. 

"Right, let's go then! How much back-up do we have?" 

Hater pulled out Peepers helmet, dropping it carefully on his head. 

"I didn't bring any, it's just us!" 

Peepers adjusted his helmet. 

"What do you mean, just us!?" 

Both went stiff as a loud alarm blared in the corridor. Hater grabbed Peepers and ran out of the door, ignoring Peepers indignant look at being carried around. 

"Sir! I can walk!" 

Hater blasted his way through a wall when he saw Awesome's own soldiers veering round a corner. 

"No time!" 

Peepers groaned. 

"The exit's that w..-!" 

Peepers trailed off with a little grin when he spotted the hole the skullship had made in Awesome's ship. 

"... that'll do." 

Hater leapt into his own ship, taunting Awesome's army as he ordered the watchdogs to take the ship as far from Awesome as they could. He didn't want the shark following them for vengeance. 

Once the skullship was clear of Emperor Awesome's ship, Hater and Peepers gave a triumphant cheer. Hater let the excitement wear off before subtly looking over Peepers, frowning at the sight of him. Peepers thrilled expression faded a bit at Hater's gaze. 

"Sir...? Something wrong?" 

Hater waved a hand at Peepers. 

"Yeah, this! I can't believe him! And I can't believe you!" 

Peepers almost reeled in surprise. 

"Me!?" 

Hater folded his arms, nodding. 

"You worked yourself into the ground and you didn't even think to tell me! And then running off, you could have died or something!" 

Peepers very nearly argued back but paused when he recognized genuine fear in Hater's voice. He wasn't angry. Despite his frown, he'd been terrified. For Peepers. For once Peepers felt a little warm sensation of appreciation. He nodded. 

"You're right, Sir... if I might, can I request a few days leave to recover?" 

Hater opened his mouth to continue his rant but stopped before he'd even started, looking completely baffled for a moment. 

"I um.. exactly what I was going to suggest! Take some time off and no working until that black eye is gone! I mean it's not like I missed you, the watchdogs did!" 

Peepers resisted the urge to chuckle at Hater's bemused expression. 

"Understood, Sir... and.. thank you." 

Hater awkwardly tried not to look relieved. 

"Yeah yeah, just get better." 

Peepers looked around the oddly empty control room. 

"Where are the watchdogs anyway?" 

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Outside the CCTV room stood a queue of watchdogs, one called Andy stood at the door. 

"Step up, only half a days wage to watch the show! No pushing! It'll be on repeat on my show later!"


End file.
